MAYER WAKEFIELD applauds Rosamund Pike’s punchy and tragic portrayal of a multi-tasking mother and high court judge
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A capital vision
London has been a pioneer in council housing, radical local democracy and multiculturalism and a new book persuasively argues that it can be so again, says GLYN ROBBINS
(L to R) Warwick Road (Kensington) Estate saved from ‘redevelopment’ or demolition by a certificate of immunity, July 2015; Lillington Gardens a former council housing estate in Westminster is now owned and managed by CityWest Homes
[(Left) Philafrenzy and (right) Ewan Munro both Creative Commons] 
FIONA O CONNOR recommends an unflinching depiction of child sexual abuse and its aftershocks, set in a working-class Liverpool family
New releases from Paul Weller, Wet Leg, and Dino Saluzzi
PAUL DONOVAN relishes the spectacle of a 1950s detective in pursuit of a 500-year-old murder mystery
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
Red Metropolis: Socialism and the Government of London
by Owen Hatherley
(Repeater Books, £10.99)
FOR anyone who’s lived in London during the last 50 years — and especially if you’ve taken an interest in its politics — Owen Hatherley’s book is unputdownable. He knows his stuff and writes so fluently that he’s made what could be a very dry subject into a page-turner.
A book about much more than the title suggests, it’s also an attempt to understand the Labour Party’s crushing December 2019 defeat and suggest some ways for the left to reform, in part inspired by London’s radical tradition.
More from this author
GLYN ROBBINS celebrates how tenant-led campaigning forced the government to drop Pay to Stay, fixed-term tenancies and council home sell-offs under Cameron — but warns that Labour’s faith in private developers will require renewed resistance
GLYN ROBBINS advises caution when seeking advice on trans children from the conservative and reactionary forces that are exploiting them
GLYN ROBBINS warns that Labour are now solidly in the ‘just build more’ camp led by business interests and developers rather than tailoring policies to social need
A campaign of non-payment of energy bills has already gained significant support — it could be an important part of the emerging resistance to the Tory offensive that is hitting the streets next month, argues GLYN ROBBINS
